The Wanderer's Map: The Hidden Alchemy of Mercury Retrograde
Gary Caton on Dreams, pilgrimage, and the 20-year cycle that can remake your life
Gary P Caton is an alchemist, skywatcher, and a leading intellectual force behind reshaping our collective understanding of the Mercury retrograde cycle. His groundbreaking book, Mercury Element Year, dives deep into this phenomenon.
Three to four times a year, Mercury appears to move backward in the sky. This is when magazine writers and meme creators go wild with travel advisories and tales of impending catastrophe. But here’s what’s really happening: Mercury is transitioning from an evening star to a morning star, ushering in a profound period of reflection, release, and regeneration.
In Mercury Element Year, Gary reveals how this cycle is part of a larger elemental pattern of retrogrades. These retrogrades occur in elemental clusters, with Mercury — much like the lunar nodes — gradually moving against the zodiacal grain over time. For one to two years, all retrogrades happen within a single element (fire, water, air, or earth) before transitioning to the next.
For instance, as I write this in March 2026, we are experiencing watery retrogrades, soon to transition into airy ones. In six to seven years from now, Mercury will have retrograded through all four elements. And over a 20-year span, Mercury will touch every decan of the Zodiac, alchemically transforming each and every one of us in the process.
It’s super powerful stuff.
The following interview is an excerpt from my conversation with Gary where we get into Mercury’s elemental year along with prophetic dreams, the time he stumbled into Project Hindsight and a lot of other goodness.
To say I learned a lot is an understatement; I hope Gary joins me for another chat soon!
On Prophetic Dreams
Vivi Henriette: You have this story about finding astrology through a dream about a Sun–Venus conjunction. Can we talk about that?
Gary P Caton: That moment probably remains the defining moment of my life. I had been through a very hard time—I see it now through the lens of alchemy as the middle stage of a transformation, where I had been through a dark night of the soul. That dream was like the white light at the end of the tunnel. I was just lying on my back in a field of green grass, and I realized I could look right at the sun. It was like this living being. And in the heart of the sun was the Venus glyph. I knew it was coming from someplace I trusted. So I got an ephemeris, looked up the positions of Venus and the Sun on that day—and they were conjunct.
Vh: So you started studying from there?
GPC: Yeah. I stayed up with that ephemeris by candlelight—literally, because I was living in a house with no electricity. I was the guy who was supposed to fix the house. So at night I had a candle and I’m flipping through the pages trying to make sense of it. I began journaling my experiences while watching the transits. I did that for a couple of years—just letting life teach me astrology.
On Wandering
Vh: You just come along these monks on the road and you’re like, “Yeah, I’ll join you.” And then from there someone’s like, “There’s some astrology down the street” —
GPC: Totally. That’s exactly what it was like. And that’s the way I lived my life at that time. I was absolutely peregrino.
Have you ever noticed how that term “peregrine” — in Spain, they call the people walking the Camino de Santiago “peregrino.” You’re a wanderer. You’re a pilgrim.
Vh: I never knew that. Everyone just thinks it’s the worst a planet can be. But there’s a sense of being really dependent on others, really vulnerable — which isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
GPC: Yeah, but you’re also the most free. When you’re peregrine, you do what you want. You don’t have that duty toward the ruler. And that’s how I lived my life at that time. I was absolutely peregrino.
On Working With Mercury Retrograde
Vh: Learning that Mercury retrograde is an astrological period I can work with—that it’s a place where I can find magic and meaning—changed my entire outlook. It went from something passive to something I can collaborate with to have richness in my life.
GPC: That’s been a mission of mine. I was hearing stuff in the pop media that made me ashamed—not because astrology is bad or wrong, but because the fruits of my sacred science were turning rotten. There had to be a better way. My friend Laurie Naughtin said she reads my work to remember that astrology is a path toward awakening and transformation—not just a weather forecast.
Vh: How would you explain what’s going on during Mercury retrograde, both astronomically and symbolically?
GPC: If you watch ocean documentaries, most of the ocean is basically a desert. It’s where different currents come together—the warm and the cold—that force the water down and stir up nutrients from the bottom. That’s basically what’s happening in a retrograde: this stirring.
There are four astronomical realities shifting all at once—direct versus retrograde motion, above and below the ecliptic, the transition from evening sky to morning sky, and from superior to inferior conjunction. That’s why there’s this profound churning of reality. It can be very difficult. I get why people might want to hide from that. But that’s where the life is—where all the stuff is churning around. It’s messy and chaotic, but that’s life. And that’s how we transform.
Vh: What guidance do you give people for dealing with Mercury retrograde—these churning periods?
GPC: Understand that it’s a process, and there is a map. In the Rosarium Philosophorum, they say, “When the matter becomes black, rejoice—for this is the beginning of the work.” Breakdown precedes breakthrough. That’s just the way it works. Don’t freak out. Don’t even necessarily avoid it. It’s worth it to wrestle with these tides, with this churning—because that’s where transformation occurs. That’s where the future enters your life.
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About Gary
Gary P. Caton is a transdisciplinary Hermetic practitioner integrating diverse traditions, art forms and practices gathered over a full Saturn cycle, after being initiated as an astrologer by a magnificent Dream in 1993. Gary has published in many prominent journals and magazines since 2002, and is author of the Hermetica Triptycha book series on Mercury. Gary is also an accomplished counselor, teacher, podcaster, and photographer.
His book, Hermetica Triptycha: Elemental Ephemerides (1925-2050), is available at Rubedo Press.
For more insights and updates, follow Gary P Caton right here on Substack! Listen to him on the Hermetic Astrology Podcast.
About Vivi
Vivi Henriette is an LA-based astrologer and tarot reader whose practice centers on storytelling, mythology, and collaborative divination. She creates a space for clients to reclaim their personal narratives through the lens of ancient archetypes. Vivi produces LA Astro Fest, hosts the Los Angeles Astro Salon, and is the creator of the podcast TalkTalkTalk. You can find her weekly writing on ritual and meaning right here on ART of the ZODIAC.
Fab summary Vivi. Thank you so much for hearing me and sharing the message <3